BRACKNELL BEES are considering appealing against the game misconduct which threatens to rule JP Soucy out of the first leg of their Findus Cup semi-final tie.

Soucy was one of eight players to receive penalties for a bust-up between Bees and Dundee Stars after the final hooter had sounded in last Saturday's 3-3 draw.

And the five-plus-game penalty handed out to Soucy by referee Moray Hanson has taken the Canadian defenceman over the first suspension threshold under the British National League's totting up procedure for disciplinary offences.

Soucy now faces being banned for the home leg of Bees' crunch Findus Cup semi-final against local rivals Guildford Flames on Saturday.

But Bees player-coach Mike Ellis insists: "There were no actual fights and it was a poor display of refereeing that he didn't call anything until quite a while after the game."

Soucy is alleged to have punched ex-Bee Dino Bauba, although Bees argue that a spearing offence by Patric Lochi sparked the altercation.

Bees should at least have new signing Curtis Sheptak in their line-up for Saturday's match.

The former Team Canada defenceman's work permit was being issued yesterday and Sheptak was due to get on a plane tonight and arrive in this country tomorrow.

Sheptak will take the place of Chris Crombie, who was axed from Bees' line-up earlier this month.

And Ellis is hoping to bring in a temporary replacement for injured captain Dave Matsos, who is not expected to recover from his knee injury before the end of the month.

Bees' boss had hoped to ice forward Kent Nobes last weekend, following his recent release by English Premier League club Wightlink Raiders.

But the school teacher's work commitments meant that he was unable to make himself available for Bees, who followed their trip to Scotland with a 4-1 home win over Hull Stingrays.

And although Nobes has not been ruled out for this weekend, Ellis has also contacted ex-Basingstoke forward Drew Burgess about a short-term contract at the Hive.

Bees' boss said: "Drew was leading scorer at Basingstoke when we were together there. He's willing to come over for a month or whatever because it would put him in the shop window.

"And he knows that somebody will see him and pick him up.

"So hopefully we should be at full strength with eight imports rather than the six we have been going with recently.

"I'd like to pay tribute, though, to our British guys who have really picked up the slack. If we can be third now, who knows what we can achieve at full strength."

Ellis admitted that Hull's over-cautious approach hardly made for the greatest game on Sunday.

Even when they were on the powerplay, Hull were still reluctant to take the game to Bees.

But Ellis said: "I am happy that we took three points from the weekend."

Nathan Rempel's hat-trick against Hull leaves him as the FBNL's top goalscorer so far this season with 11 in eight games, while Darryl Lavoie leads the league in assists with 13 in six matches.

And Bees have as many as four players in the FBNL's top 10 point scorers.